This issue is mostly devoted to the theoretical and methodical approaches to the investigation of burial rite. It comprises around twenty papers presented at the all-Russian conference held in the Institute of Archaeology, Moscow, in 2005. Researches from Russian academic institutions, museums, and high schools of Moscow, Tver and Kolomna, from Moldavia and Bulgaria participated in the conference. In the published works the authors discuss the methodical and theoretical achievements of the present-day archaeology, both national and foreign, in interpretation of burial rite viewed as a system of postulates related to religious, mythological, social and political structure of the societies they emerged in.

The first section deals with general problems of investigation of burial rite. In V.I. Gulyaev’s paper “Investigations of burial rite in foreign archaeology” history of studies on the point is presented, starting from the beginning of archaeology as an independent discipline in the 19th century. First scholars centred on the concept of primitive mythology, then in the early 20th century a relationship between burial rite and social system was established, the approach to the burial rite as one of transitional rites being its crucial point. In the 60-s and 70-s of the 20th century in the West the ideas of “processional archaeology” dominated. According to L. Binford, burial rituals reflect “social personality” of the dead and his group’s attitude towards him, so that burial practices are viewed as a direct image of the type and structure of a social group. In the 80-s so-called “post-processional” archaeology appeared, mostly in Great Britain and Scandinavia, with special attention paid to the ideological (religious and symbolic) aspects.Ключевые слова: погребальный обряд, классификация, ритуал, социальная структура, антропология, этнография

E.V. Lagutkina in her work “Investigation of burial associations in archaeology: approaches and methods of research” considers perspectives of informational and system approaches in source analysis as a methodical base for investigation of burial complexes. These are taken as a system developing within a broad historical and cultural context with many elements and indications. Thus the regularities revealed in burial rite of certain epoch or region may be traced (maybe partly) among different peoples, regions, and epochs.Ключевые слова: погребальный памятник, обряд, формализовано-статистические методы, признак, Тверское Поволжье

M.F. Kosarev in the paper “World-outlook aspects in traditional burial practices (on the Siberian materials)” discusses the problems related to the archetype, social and sacral characteristics of different aspects of traditional burial rituals known mostly from the data of the Siberian ethnography. Traditional character of the aboriginal cultures allows considering in a more detailed way the functional aspects and the world-outlook mirrored by burial practices of the tribes and peoples that inhabited Siberia in prehistory and the Middle Ages.Ключевые слова: этноархеология, обряд, ритуал, шаман, народы Сибири, душа, фольклор

V.I. Melnik in his article “Symbolism of elements of burial rite according to ethnographic and archaeological data” considers burial rite (ritual) as a complex symbolic structure with its elements related to certain ritual symbols. But their meaning is based on a real event (an individual’s death) and related ideas. The process of burying includes three series of events: utilitarian, religious (supernatural), and ritual (symbolic). The set of symbols used in ancient society includes universal and non-ritual ones. The author distinguishes symbolic actions and symbolic objects of various kinds reflecting space orientation, time, geometric, numeric, and colour symbolism.Ключевые слова: символика, погребальный процесс, этнография, жертва, процессуальные символы, традиционное миропонимание

The paper by E.S. Baksheev and Yu.A. Smirnov “Two-stage burial rituals in Okinawa as an archaeological and cultural reality” is devoted to some aspects of traditional culture of Okinawa, with mixed and often archaic cultural elements adopted from Japan, China, South-eastern Asia and Oceania. Specific features of this culture are typical of each island community. The discussed form of burial ritual appeared as early as the Palaeolithic, while in Okinawa it was formed by the 19th century, some its elements have survived till the late 20th – early 21st centuries.Ключевые слова: погребальная обрядность, Окинава, археология Японии, способ захоронения, типы погребальных сооружений

The series of anthropological studies opens with the paper of A.P. Buzhilova “On the informativeness of the investigations of collective burials” discussing graves containing several individuals. These burials are clearly of non-ordinary character, so that researchers suggest different explanations of this phenomenon: consequences of some dramatic events (war, epidemics, famine). In some cases reconstruction of burial rite suggests that mass burials reflect a complicated cult practice. Different types of mass burials analysed in the context of anthropological and palaeopathological studies provide very important information. The author presents the assessment of informativeness of this complex source on the example of different prehistoric and historic mass burials.Ключевые слова: коллективные погребения, погребальные культы, половозрастной состав, эпидемия

The article by M.V. Dobrovolskaya is headed “On the method of investigations of cremation materials”. Specific character of this source demands special methodological and methodical approaches. We should take into account that cremation is related to the archetypes of human attitude to fire. Usually, the origin of cremation is dated to the Early metal period; but presented data confirm that fire was used in burial practice from the Palaeolithic. The main difficulty consists in the fact that it is impossible to investigate macromorphological characteristics of skeletal structure, therefore it is important to study cremated bone tissue. Temperature regime and conditions of cremation are discussed, as well as the possibilities of histological methods for establishing sex and age of the dead. Reconstructions of diet based on the trace element analysis of cremated bone tissues from different epochs and territories are published.Ключевые слова: кремация, погребальная практика, кальцинированные кости, видовая принадлежность, половозрастные дефиниции

The paper by M.B. Mednikova “Manipulations with the head of the dead (burial practice in antiquity according to the data of palaeoanthropology)” is devoted to the complicated manipulations with human head known from the Palaeolithic. Anthropology singles out a set of diagnostic indications pointing to the manipulations the dead bodies had undergone: traces of cutting, scraping, pits, defects of surfaces’ jointing, etc. Posthumous destruction often was caused by extracting brain and breaking facial skeleton, as it is established both on the Palaeolithic materials and modern ones. Thus, burials of skulls separated from cranium are typical of the Near East (Natufian culture). Special discussion deserves the tradition of modelling face features on macerated skulls known from early Jericho, the Bronze Age cultures of Eurasia, and in the Early Iron Age in the Minusinsk depression.Ключевые слова: палеоантропология, религиозные церемонии, череп, Южная Сибирь, трепанация

A.V. Engovatova, D.O. Osipov, N.N. Goncharova and A.P. Buzhilova in the article “Mass medieval burial in Yaroslavl (preliminary results)” publish materials from the excavations near the Dormition cathedral in Yaroslavl conducted in 2004. In the construction 4 to 2,6 m in size with sunken bottom destroyed by fire mass human burial was discovered. According to the anthropological data, the buried people were killed at the same time; the selection included mostly females and children, young males were few. Both children and adult skeletons showed not healed traumas caused by different types of cold weapons used by professional mounted warriors. The specific character and state of remains suggest that the burial was executed hastily, maybe with sanitary aims; the version of an epidemic should be denied. The mass burial of some tens of individuals of different age in destroyed construction is an eloquent testimony of dramatic events that took place in Yaroslavl in the early 13th century.Ключевые слова: Ярославль, культурный слой, антропологический анализ, коллективное погребение, травматические повреждения

The paper by K.E. Bochvarov “Neolithic jar burials from South-eastern Europe: the origins of rite” discusses specific manifestation of prehistoric mortuary practices related to the Early Neolithic in South-eastern Europe, and probably to the process of neolithization. Found sporadically in the context of other disposal types related to the domestic/mortuary space, including formal or secondary inhumation or cremation, jar burials show certain cultural and chronological features, which could be considered in relation to the problems of directions and results of the early farming interactions in the Southeast European Neolithic. The fact that the area of the Struma and Vardar valleys, and the west Rhodope was a core area of jar burial agrees with the overall picture of the Neolithic development in the Balkans. The significance of infant burials in the living space of the Neolithic societies is a cultural marker related to the early farming cult.Ключевые слова: неолит, Юго-Восточная Европа, обряд, ингумация, погребальная яма, керамический сосуд, возрастная дифференциация

T.N. Mishina’s article “Social aspect of investigation of intramural infant burials (the EBA materials from tell Yunatsite in the Balkans)” deals with the interpretation of infant burials discovered in houses. In the EBA layer of stratified settlement Yunatsite in Thrace 30 burials have been investigated, 28 of infants and 2 of adults. The Yunatsite series makes over 55% of all the intramural infant burials known in Bulgaria. The associations were analysed by a set of indications (position at the settlement and in dwelling, relationship with the interior, burial constructions, age, grave goods, etc.). Infant burials do not show strict regularity in their rite, maybe due to the fact that the infants had not passed the first stage of initiation. Nevertheless, the burial practices follow certain regulations: the infants were deposited within the settlement, mostly inside the constructions, or in the yards; in the houses such burials were often placed in secluded places. The author stresses that the buried infants had not undergone “separation rite” and as such were not included in “social time”. Evidently, this determined the differences in details of burial rite.Ключевые слова: социальный аспект, детские погребения, могильники, стратиграфия, планиграфия, эпоха ранней бронзы

S.N. Korenevsky in his article “The phenomenon of big Maikop kurgans – labour and cult aspects of construction” discusses typology and semantics of so-called “big kurgans” of Maikop culture, and suggests an assessment of their labour extensiveness based on the standards used in ancient Babylonia. The term “big Maikop kurgan” is defined as a mound over 3 m in height (the biggest ones measure 8 to 10 m). The author divides the sites into two types: some big mounds were built over one central burial, other ones grew gradually as next Maikop burials were deposited. Colours and properties of soil used for construction are related to the religious beliefs (black symbolised fertility and reincarnation, yellow – solar and celestial aspects). Complicated constructions of big kurgans suggest that the builders used some mathematic knowledge and were controlled by some religious leaders.Ключевые слова: курган, майкопская культура, хронология, погребальный инвентарь, трудозатраты, земляная архитектура

M.V. Andreeva presents the article “Arrangement of space structure in the kurgans of East Manych catacomb culture”. Abundant materials of the steppe Bronze Age cultures document orientation to cardinal points as basic principle in arrangement of burials in kurgans. Orientation of burial constructions and positions of the dead by 8 directions and their location in kurgans are analysed. Database comprises 585 associations of East Manych catacomb culture, both burials containing human remains and symbolic ones, dating from the Middle Bronze Age (the mid – second part of the 3rd mill. BC incalibrated 14C dates). Burial constructions are oriented mostly to cardinal points (S and E, figs. 1, 2). Accordingly, the dead both in central and dug-in graves are also oriented to S and E. But those deposited in shallow pits not traced in subsoil are oriented mainly to diagonal directions – SE, S, and SW (fig. 3). The majority of graves are located in the diagonal sectors – SE and NE (figs. 4, 5). The revealed regularities evidence certain space structure based on a space code typical of the East Manych burial tradition probably related to the social/family structure.Ключевые слова: катакомбная культура, курган, ориентация, могильные сооружения, впускные погребения, скотоводы

E.V. Volkova in her paper “Burial associations of cemeteries Novinki 1 and 2 of Fatyanovo culture. Possibilities of historic reconstructions” analyses materials from two cemeteries in Tver Region. The author determines the real number of ancient cemeteries in the locality, their state of preservation, and gives their historical and cultural description, including structure of each burial group and pottery cultural traditions. The author concludes that four groups of local population left four cemeteries with different period of functioning. The first and the third cemeteries were of earlier date than the second and fourth ones. The first pair of cemeteries dates to the late 19th or early 18th cc. BC and the second pair – to the late 18th or early 17th cc. BC. The population of the first cemetery was related to the Corded Ware culture of the East Baltic region, and the population of the third cemetery maintained intensive cultural contacts with the Dnieper-Desna variant of the Middle Dnieper culture; the both of these earlier cultural groups took part in formation of two later groups buried in the second and fourth cemeteries.Ключевые слова: фатьяновская культура, погребальные комплексы, погребальный обряд, погребальные сооружения, керамический сосуд

The article by B.V. Meleshko “On the terminal date of the dolmen sites in the Caucasus” deals with a debatable problem of the Caucasian archaeology. The chronology of the dolmen sites is uncertain and very extended. The author questions the long chronology of the West Caucasian dolmens suggested by V.I. Markovin and V.A. Trifonov. The sites’ typological and stylistic uniformity, coexistence of different types of dolmens within one group demands working out a new version of their chronology. Publication of the Klady cemetery with a series of dolmen-like consturctions gives an opportunity to discuss the problem: the stone slabs first used for building real dolmens were used secondary to construct the Klady “dolmens” and tombs of the Novosvobodnaya type. Thus two chronologies may be united into a single one, and some parallels in the dolmen and Novosvobodnaya constructions may be explained. The author claims that the secondary use of the dolmen slabs for building the Novosvobodnaya tombs points that the dolmen epoch had passed by that time, and suggests synchronization of the dolmen culture with Maikop culture.Ключевые слова: дольмен, хронология, признаки, конструкция, дромос, майкопская культура

A series of articles discusses the Early Iron Age and the early medieval period. V.B. Kovalevskaya’s paper “Planigraphic computer analysis of the early medieval cemetery Dyurso in the North Caucasus” deals with application of the computer geographic program MAP DEVELOPER STUDIO in investigation of the Dyurso cemetery dating back from the 5th – 9th cc. (excavations by A.V. Dmitriev). Burials of the second part of the 5th – first part of the 6th cc. have been analysed; these are distributed by three stages according to the grave goods, including beads. For all stages there are singled out reliably dated burials of warriors of high social status containing horse skeletons and swords; they are surrounded by rather modest burials and free areas. The groups were formed within the cemetery during a century.Ключевые слова: могильник Дюрсо, компьютерный анализ, раннее средневековье, картография, категории находок, датировка, бусы

The work by M.G. Gusakov “On the origins of cremation in urn or without it (cemeteries of the Hallstatt and La Tene periods in the South-eastern Baltic zone)” discusses burial rite of the Early Iron Age. Materials from the Pokrovskoe ground cemetery (Kaliningrad Region) are published (58 burials, 30 established individuals). The site is attributed to the Pomor culture of the 6th-5th cc. BC. The burials contain cremations in urns and without them and practically lack grave goods. In some graves the ashes were deposited in a heap, sometimes they were scattered over the pit, or deposited in a vessel. Some burials were lined with stones forming a kind of cist, or a dead-house. The author stresses similarity of the Pokrovskoe burials to the synchronous sites of North Poland and Germany by their construction and finds; the site is attributed to the same population. He considers the burial rite of the Pokrovskoe cemetery as a continuation of the Luzyce tradition, with its source in the Hallstatt cultures of the Alpine zone and the West Balkans.Ключевые слова: ритуал, кремация, урна, гальштат, латен, некрополь, тип, антропология, инвентарь

A.M. Oblomsky presents the paper “New burial complexes of the mid 1st millennium AD on the Upper Don”. Materials from two burials of cemetery Ksizovo-17 are published. The site belongs to one of the centres of the Hun power located on the Don River. Totally 23 burials have been excavated. The finds are typical of the Hun time. The most spectacular associations are burials Nos. 2 and 19 dating from the second third – mid 5th c. and around the mid 5th c. AD rrespectively. Their close counterparts are known from the Middle Danube region; the sites probably belong to the German population involved into the Hunnic movement. Some elements of the Central European cultures have been attested also at the settlements Zamyatino-5 and 8.Ключевые слова: Верхнее Подонье, погребальные комплексы, гунны, лепная керамика, погребальный инвентарь, хронология

V.M. Kishlyaruk in the article “Environmental influence on the burial rite of the barbarian population of the Lower Dniester in the 3rd-2nd cc. BC” considers the analytical study of the contents of the incense cups from the Late Scythian burials. The organic remains were identified as wild plants, namely, cannabis. Evidently, it played an important role in the burial ritual. Other remains discovered in the incense cups make it possible to establish the season when the burial was performed, and the fact that the grave stayed open for at least a fortnight.Ключевые слова: природные условия, погребальный обряд, минералого-петрографический анализ, курильницы, растительные материалы

Some publications deal with the medieval materials. Among them there is Yu.V. Stepanova’s work “The chronology of Medieval Russian burial associations of the Upper Volga region”. The author concentrates on the problem of chronology of burials associations and the changes of rite considered on the examples of large and well-investigated cemeteries. In the late 10th – early 11th cc. on the Upper Volga people practiced cremation, then they passed over to inhumation rite. In the 11th c. the dead were deposited on the burnt area, western orientation of the dead being dominating one. In the late 11th – early 12th cc. burial pits were arranged under kurgans. This rite in the region survived till the 13th c., parallel with ground cemeteries.Ключевые слова: Верхнее Поволжье, хронология, погребальные комплексы, курганы, украшения, трупосожжения, трупоположения

In the article by A.S. Syrovatko “Reconstruction of burial constructions of the Shchurovo cemetery” preliminary data of the excavations of kurgan cemetery Shchurovo near Kolomna are published. The kurgans with cremation burials are situated at the settlement of D’yakovo culture. Three mounds have been investigated; two of them contained remains of fire and the ashes deposited in the mound in a dense heap without urn or a coffin. In the third kurgan the ashes were scattered. The author supposes that the bodies were burnt directly on the spot. In all three kurgans traces of circular enclosures were revealed, probably, these were originally visible on the surface (fig. 5) and supported the ground inside from slicing down. The suggested reconstruction corresponds to the description of burial construction (stolp) given in the medieval chronicles.Ключевые слова: реконструкция, погребальные сооружения, курган, ров, керамические сосуды

I.A. Druzhinina’s paper “Concerning ethno-cultural contacts in the Central Caucasus piedmonts in the 16th-17th cc.” is based on the excavations of kurgan cemeteries in republics North Ossetia and Ingushetia. The cemeteries usually number from several to some tens mounds. The kurgans are divided into three types according to their construction: earthen mounds, earthen-stone, and stone ones. In burials different types of wooden constructions were present. The archaeological data together with ethnography and local lore picture close contacts of between the Kabarda people and the mountaineers in the 16th – mid 18th cc. established in the course of economic settling of the Kabardineans in the piedmont areas of Ingushetia and Ossetia that influenced traditional culture of the both peoples.Ключевые слова: этнокультурные контакты, Центральное Предкавказье, курганы, тип насыпи, погребальный инвентарь, обряд

In section “Publications” the article by L.V. Vakulenko “Complex of grain-pits of the 4th c. AD from the Ciscarpathians” is presented. At the settlement of the Carpathian kurgan culture (the 4th c. AD) near village Pylypy (Ivano-Frankovsk Region, Ukraine) a series of pits designed for preservation of grain were investigated (fig. 1). The grain-pits formed three rows arranged around the central pit (fig. 2). Mass finds of charred grains confirm the objects’ function. Each pit contained certain species of cereals. The Ciscarpathian population grew emmer, bread wheat, barley, millet, and oats. Weeds were also present in the pits. Agricultural implements look rather advanced. These facts evidence that agriculture of the local people was based on ploughing land-tillage.Ключевые слова: зернохранилище, сооружение, позднеримское время, палеоботанический анализ, почвоведческий анализ, культура земледелия

E.K. Stolyarova’s paper is headed “Concerning technology of production of gold-glass beads in the pre-Mongol period”. Investigation of gold- and silver-glass beads has allowed the author single out two stages in production of beads of this type associated with different technological patterns and production centres. Beads of the 9th-10th cc. were drawn of glass tube in workshops of the Near Eastern, while beads of the 11th-13th cc. were made in Byzantium and Rus’ by twisting a glass rod. Special investigation of beads with metal foil from the Myakinino kurgans of the 12th – the first half of the 13th cc. gives a possibility to determine beads of Russian and Byzantine production, and single out a group of beads imitating gold-glass ones.Ключевые слова: стеклянные бусы, технология, температурный режим, ювелирные изделия, химический состав